Improvement in apparatus for pressing hats and bonnets



Y NITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

WILLIAM E. DOUBLEDAY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR PPQESSING HATS AND BONNETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,293, dated September 20, 1864.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. DOUBLE- DAY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented, made, and applied to use a certain new and useful Improvement in Means for Pressing Hats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the said invention, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, where- In- Figure 1 is a vertical section of a pair of hatdies fitted with my improvement, and Fig. 2 is an inverted plan of the upper die containing Iny said invention.

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

Dies have heretofore been constructed for pressing hats and bonnets out of one piece of material, as will be found on reference to Letters Patent granted to William Osborn, Au-y gust,- 19, 1856, and in said patent pins are represented for holding the material in place while being pressed. The pressingdies have also been provided with yielding pins or hooks to stretch the material acted upon, but yield to the strain on the mateiial as pressed or formed. These pins have all been applied to the lower or convex die.

The nature of Iny invention consists in confining the edge of the material to be pressed to the edges of the concave die by means otpins, or their equivalents; while being pressed or blocked. Thereby the said material is, b v the action of the convex die, stretched up into and pressed against the inside of the concave die, instead of being ironed and pressed down upon the lower convex die, as heretofore usual'. Thereby the exterior of the `hat is not injured or rendered glossy in portions of its surface in consequence of the slid ing of the die over its surface, for thc said hat is pressed from the inside out to the inner surface of the concave die, and the hattip is stretched out and made smooth and the surface thereof left uninjured by too much pressure.

In the drawings, ais the lower convex die, and b is the upper or concave die. These dies are to be of any desired size and shape and actuated by competent power to press or block the material introduced between them. Around the edges of this upper die, b, pins e are introduced at suitable distances apart, and the material is hooked over these pins previous to orat the time of the dies being brought to gether. This means of pressing hats is es peeially adapted to the forming of hats from felt cones. \Vith this material the tip of the cone is stretched out to the form of the die and pressed to shape without the external surface being injured bythe action of the dies. Flat felt may be employed after being propeI'l y softened by moisture or sizing.

With all characters of material a smallersized piece can be used than heretofore, because the crown is actually stretched out and no portion thereof pressed together, as has been usual, and hence the brim is left sufficiently thick and rm while the crown is thin and light.

lt will be evident that a clamp or other device might be employed, instead of the pins, to hold the edge of the material.

What l ela-im, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Confining the edges of the material around the edges of the concave die in the formation of hats and bonnets, for the purposes and substantially as specified. l

In witness WhereofI have hereunto set my signature this 7th day of July, 1864.

WVM. E. DOUBLEDAY.

Witnesses:

CHAs. I-I. SMITH, Tnos. Gino. HAROLD. 

